"We need freeways, not tollways. And we must use existing right of ways. And increase efficiency."
Strayhorn Defines Transportation Plans
Aug 21, 2006
KXAN TV (Austin, TX)
Copyright 2006
One key issue top candidates for governor agree on this election year is Texas traffic is in a jam.
They're gridlocked over how best to unclog it. The politician who could unclog the mess on I-35 and other traffic jams around Texas would be a hero to voters.
That has some candidates for governor racing to November with very different plans to get Texas moving.
It's not the Central Texas summer heat that has Joe Potts boiling.
"Charging us tolls is just another word for taxes," Potts said.
So he's standing shoulder to shoulder with Independent candidate for governor Carole Keeton Strayhorn. If elected, she promises to put Governor Perry's Trans Texas Corridor plan in the ditch and get Texans moving without new tollroads.
"I will blast this corridor off the bureaucratic books and replace it with a commonsense plan," Strayhorn said.
Strayhorn's plan would expand I-35, possibly even with more double decks, improving west Texas highways in the Ports to Plains plan connecting the border to interior states and encouraging more telecommuting to keep people off of the roads.
"We need freeways, not tollways. And we must use existing right of ways. And increase efficiency," Strayhorn said.
Strayhorn says the state's got billions in mobility funds and revenue bonds to pay for it, but Perry's people call her plan transportation science fiction.
"She has proposed nothing that will relieve congestion. Nothing that will get Texans off of I-35 on to another corridor as they drive north to south in the state of Texas," Perry Campaign Spokesman Robert Black said.
But Potts says Perry's plan to grab land and create a toll corridor doesn't treat Texans equally.
"They'll be first class roads for the people that can drive them. The poor people get to drive on the access road," Potts said.
Neither Democrat Chris Bell nor Independent Kinky Friedman have put out detailed transportation plans.
Both agree with Strayhorn in opposing Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor.
© 2006 WorldNow and KXAN: www.kxan.com
Aug 21, 2006
KXAN TV (Austin, TX)
Copyright 2006
One key issue top candidates for governor agree on this election year is Texas traffic is in a jam.
They're gridlocked over how best to unclog it. The politician who could unclog the mess on I-35 and other traffic jams around Texas would be a hero to voters.
That has some candidates for governor racing to November with very different plans to get Texas moving.
It's not the Central Texas summer heat that has Joe Potts boiling.
"Charging us tolls is just another word for taxes," Potts said.
So he's standing shoulder to shoulder with Independent candidate for governor Carole Keeton Strayhorn. If elected, she promises to put Governor Perry's Trans Texas Corridor plan in the ditch and get Texans moving without new tollroads.
"I will blast this corridor off the bureaucratic books and replace it with a commonsense plan," Strayhorn said.
Strayhorn's plan would expand I-35, possibly even with more double decks, improving west Texas highways in the Ports to Plains plan connecting the border to interior states and encouraging more telecommuting to keep people off of the roads.
"We need freeways, not tollways. And we must use existing right of ways. And increase efficiency," Strayhorn said.
Strayhorn says the state's got billions in mobility funds and revenue bonds to pay for it, but Perry's people call her plan transportation science fiction.
"She has proposed nothing that will relieve congestion. Nothing that will get Texans off of I-35 on to another corridor as they drive north to south in the state of Texas," Perry Campaign Spokesman Robert Black said.
But Potts says Perry's plan to grab land and create a toll corridor doesn't treat Texans equally.
"They'll be first class roads for the people that can drive them. The poor people get to drive on the access road," Potts said.
Neither Democrat Chris Bell nor Independent Kinky Friedman have put out detailed transportation plans.
Both agree with Strayhorn in opposing Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor.
© 2006 WorldNow and KXAN:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Monday, August 21, 2006
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